Rogers’ father, William B. Rogers Jr., was a Baptist minister and the dean of the School of Religious Education at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Her mother, Luwilda McKaig Rogers, was an accountant.

Born circa 1966, Melissa Rogers attended Baylor University, graduating in 1988 with a B.A. in history. She earned her J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1991, where she was the editor of the Comparative Labor Law Journal.

Rogers got her foot in the door at the White House in 2009 when President Barack Obama appointed her to be the inaugural chair of the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She recommended changes in the Affordable Care Act to allow more religious exemptions from the law’s contraception mandate. The language was changed to require that contraception be covered by insurance, but that it could be paid for by the insurer. She remained at Wake Forest until going to work at the White House.

President Obama appointed Rogers to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council four days before he left office. She also returned to her position as non-resident fellow with the Brookings Institution and began teaching a course in Transformational Leadership at Yale University Divinity School,

Rogers is married to Stan Fendley, and they have two sons, Adam and Carter.